The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-11-04

glorious work OF forgiveness before me-
ridian.
Again: We ought not TO let the sun go
| down on our wrath, because we will sleep
better if we are at peace with every body.
| Insomnia is getting to be one of the most
| prevalent of disorders. How few people
retire at ten O'Clock at night and sleep
| clear through to six in the morning. To
relieve this disorder all narcotics, and
| sedatives, and chloral, and bromide OF
| potassium, and cocaine, and intoxicants
| are used, but nothing is mere important
| that a quiet spirit if we would win SOM
nolence. How is a man going to sleep
| when he is in mind pursuing an enemy?
| With what nervous twitch he will start
/ out of dream The new plan for corner
| ing his foe will keep him wide awake
| while the clock strikes eleven, twelve,
one, two, three, four. 1 give you an
unfailing prescription for wakefulness:
| Spend the evening hour srehearsing
your wrongs and the best way of
avenging them. Hold q convention of
friends on this subject in your parlor or
| Office at eight and nine o'clock.
| Close the evening by writing
bitter letter expressing your senti-
ments. Take from the desk or pigeon
hole the papers in the case to refresh
your mind with your evenings me anness.
| Then lie down and wait for the coming of
| the day, and it will come before sleep
| comes, or your sleep will be a worried
| quiescence, and, if you take the precau-
| tiOn to lie fat your back, a frightful
| nightmare. Why not put bound to your
animosity? Why let your foes come into
the sanctities of your dormtory? Why
! let these slanderers who have already
! torn your reputat tion to pieces or injured
| your business bend over your midnight
| pillow and drive from you one of the
| greatest blessings that God can offer
! sweet, refreshing, all-invigorating sleep.
| Why not fence out your enemies by the
| golden bars of the sunset? Why not
stand behind the barricade of evening
cloud and say to them; ''Thus far and no
| farther"
Many man and many a woman is hay
| ing the health of body as well as the
health of soul eaten away by a malevo-
| lent spirit. I have in time of re-
ligious awakening had persons night
after night come into the inquiry-room
| and get no peace of soul. After awhile
l have bluntly asked her: SIS there not
some one against whom you have
hatred that you are not willing
to give up?" After a little confusion sho
has slightly whispered: "Yes." Then l
said to her "You will never find peace
with God as long as you retain that vlru-
lence."
A boy IN Sparta, having stolen fox,
kept him under his coat and though the
fox was gnawing his vitals, he submitted
| to it rather than expose his misdeed.
| Many man with a smiling face has un-
der his jacket an animosity that is gnaw-
| ing away the strength of his body and the
integrity of his soul. Better get rid of
that hidden fox as soon as possible. There
are hundreds of domestic circles where
that which is most needed is the spirit of
| forgiveness. Brothers apart, and sisters
| apart, and parents and children apart.
| Solomon says a brother offended lis
! harder to be won than a strong city. Arc
| there not enough sacre ed memories Of your
childhood to bring you tOgether2 The rab-
bins recount how that Nebuchadnezzar's
son had such a spite against his father
that after he was dead he had his father
burned to ashes, and then put the ashes
into four sacks and tied them to four
eagles necks, wh ch flew away in opposite
directions. And there are now domestic
antpathies that seem forever to have scat
tered all parental memories to the four
winds of Heaven. How far the eagles fly
with those sacred ashesl The hour of sun
down makes to that family no practical
suggestion. Thomas Carlyle, in his biog-
raphy of Frederick the Great, says the old
King was told by the confessor he
must be at peace with his enemies
If he wanted to enter Heaven. Then
ne SdlQ TO his WlI6t LuS NJuGGus w ilbC
to your brother after I am dead that
/ forgive him." Roloff, the confessor,
said: "Her Majesty had better write TO
him Immediately" "No," said the King,
'after am dead; that will be safer" So
| he let the sun of his earthly existence go
down upon his wrath.
Again: We ought not to allow the sun
to set before forgiveness takes place, be-
cause we might not live to see another
Il Az hot rI,r ho ,,gbo
into the presence of our Maker with a
| grudge upon our soul? The majority of
| people depart this life in the night Be-
tween eleven O'Clock p. m. and three
O'Clock a. IN. there is something in the at-
mosphere which relaxes the grip which
the body has on the soul, and most of
| people enter the next world through the
| shadows of this world. Perhaps God may
| have arranged it in this way so as to make
the contrast the more glorious. / have
| seen sunshiny days in this world
that must have been like the radi-
ance of Heaven. But as most people leave
| the earth between sundown and sunrise,
| they quit this world at its darkest, and
| Heaven, always bright, will be the bright
er for that contrast Out of biackness into
! irradiatiOn. Shall we then leap over the
| roseate bank of sunset into the favorite
| hunting ground Of disease and death,
CARRYING our animosities with US? Who
| would want to confront his God, against
| whom we have all done meaner things
| than anybody has ever done against us,
carrying old grudges? How can we ex-
| pect His forgiveness for the greater when
| we are not willing to forgive others the
| less? Napoleon was encouraged to under
take the crossing Of the Alps because
| Charlemange had previously crossed
them. And all this rugged path Of for
| giveness bears the bleeding footsteps
| of Him who conquered through
suffering, and we ought to be
| willing to follow. On the
/ night Of our departure from this life into
the next, our one plea will have. to be for
mercy, and it will have to be offered in the
presence of Him who has said:
If you forgive not men their trespasses.
| neither viii your Heavenly Father forgive your
/ trespasses.
"But," says some woman, "there is a
/ horrid creature that has so injured me
| that rather than make up with her would
/ die first" Well, sister, you may take your
| choice-for one or the other IL will be-
/ your complete pardon of her or Gods eter-
/ nal Punishment of you. "But," says some
/ man, 'that fellow who cheated mo out Of
/ those goods, or damaged my business
/ credit, or started that lie about me in the
newspapers, or by his perddy broke up my
/ domestic happiness, forgive him can not,
/ forgive him / will not" Well, brother,
/ take your choice. You will never be at
/ peace with God till you are at peace with
man. Feeling as you now do, you would
not ge SO near the harbor Of Heaven as TO
see the lightship. Better leave that man
| with the God, who said
Vengeance is mine, will repay.
You may say: II will make him sweat
| for that yet, will make him squirm, 1
mean to pursue him to the DEATH" but
| you are damaging yourself more than you
| damage him, and you are making Heaven
/ for Ronr own soul an impoasibiIitY. II he